


Sibuna

by siren_of_the_ocean



Series: Tim Drake AU's [21]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, House of Anubis
Genre: Angst, Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mr. Oz - Freeform, Protective Tim Drake, Tim Drake Angst, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake-centric, mention of psychological abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28382343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siren_of_the_ocean/pseuds/siren_of_the_ocean
Summary: Tim Drake and Nina Martin get sent back to Gotham.The last place Tim ever wants to go after what happened. It's better he just stays away.Jason disagrees.
Relationships: Nina Martin & Fabian Rutter, Tim Drake & Amber Millington, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Nina Martin
Series: Tim Drake AU's [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853161
Comments: 11
Kudos: 86





	Sibuna

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a lighthearted crossover about Tim and House of Anubis. How did this happen? 
> 
> Anyway, I'm on a nostalgia trip. You can expect to see more crazy crossovers soon enough.

“Can’t we just have one puzzle where doing it wrong will result in us dying? Just one?” Alfie complains, leaning over the side of the canyon.   
“If there wasn’t a chance of dying, then people would have found the cup ages ago. Including Victor” Fabian points out a second later, still looking around, trying to find something to act as a bridge.   
“Doesn’t mean we should have to die for it!”   
“Alfie, the cup literally gives you immortality” Nina points out, staring at the opposite ledge in contemplation.   
Alfie eventually huffs in defeat, still leaning slightly over the edge of the cavern. 

“I could make that jump” Nina mutters just loud enough for Tim to hear.   
Tim, during this whole time has been looking around for a makeshift bridge. Anything that can let them walk across. They could probably try bringing a ladder here but…the idea of crossing the swinging axes with a ladder just seems like a bad idea.   
Nina’s idea isn’t bad. There’s only about 3 meters between the edge they’re on and the one they need to reach. That is in fact, a possible jump. But it’s still a large jump. Nina might not make it across. And who knows what’s at the bottom of this. 

“Nina” Tim warns, seeing her start to pull off her shoes.   
“I’ll make it, Tim” she says, heading back a couple of meters to get a running start. A good idea, really.   
“You know we’re not going to be able to convince her otherwise” Fabian says, looking resigned to his fate even as he loosens his laces to do the same.   
“Yeah, I know” Tim says, eyeing the gap with hesitance. 

Nina takes a running start, launches off the platform and.   
Falls. 

Tim manages to grab hold of her elbow as she falls past him but Nina’s momentum drags him down with her.   
Tim can’t help but think of the last time. The flying Graysons and their fall. He wonders if he’ll look about the same when he hits the ground.  
He can hear the others screaming above them, Alfie screaming as Fabian tries to reach from them. 

Tim braces himself for impact, after all, there has to be something at the bottom of this.   
But before they can hit something, Nina’s necklace lights up red, glowing brighter than either of them have ever seen. The glow encases them both as they fall, fall fall. 

Before they stop, suddenly hitting something soft and forgiving as the glow fades. 

Tim can’t help the sigh of relief that pushes from his lungs. They aren’t dead.   
Then, he looks around, training from a different life pulling to the forefront of his mind. 

The room they’re in is ratty, with holes in the wall and curtains that are barely holding together. The mattress underneath them smells like moth balls and possibly decay.   
Tim finds himself, almost nostalgic. 

“Ew!” Nina squeals as she spots a dead rat in the corner of the room, standing on bare feet before something crunches under her weight. She quickly falls back down, breathing heavily from the adrenaline and shock.   
“We’re alive” she mutters, sounding somewhere between confused and amazed.   
“Where are we?” Tim asks instead. 

He looks around the room, trying to find any identifying marks or any indication of where they are.   
What he finds, both astounds and enrages him. 

He’s back in Gotham. 

The black Gotham Knights flag on the wall makes that abundantly clear, causing a fist to clench around his heart, cold as ice.   
“Tim? You know where we are?” Nina asks, eyes concerned at Tim’s reaction, laying a hand on his shoulder.   
“Yeah. We’re in Gotham” Tim admits, wincing as his slight accent makes itself known.   
“Your hometown, right?” Nina asks gently, knowing that Tim never talks about what happened before he ended up in the House of Anubis. Never. Not to anyone. 

Tim doesn’t answer her, instead standing to take a look out the window, seeing where in the city of crime they are.   
Of course, it just happened to be the Bowery. Well within Red Hood’s territory. 

Tim and Jason had been doing better. Before.   
But Tim doesn’t feel like confronting the past today. Not even with Jason. 

“We need to get out of here. Back to the house. The others probably think we’re dead” Tim explains, already thinking of How they could do that.   
It won’t be easy.   
They need to get back to England, which means a plane. To get on a plane, they need documents like passports. And how do they even explain how they’re here? Nina is supposed to be back in England. They can’t explain how they got here. And Tim doesn’t legally exist.   
They can maybe manage to sneak aboard a plane, but with Gotham security, that seems unlikely.   
A boat is more possible but then they have to factor in possible mob activity, drug runners and possibly even the rogues. 

Tim hasn’t even been back an hour and he’s already tired. 

“We call them, let them know that we’re alright. Then we find a way back tomorrow” Nina proposes, looking over Tim’s anxious expression with concern.   
Tim thinks it over for a moment before nodding, still breathing slowly to keep himself in control.   
“Yeah. Check if your phone works” Tim says, pulling his own phone from his pocket, unsurprised to see full bars of signal. He may no longer be a vigilante but that paranoia never fades.   
“No signal, man, I knew I should have kept my US sim card” Nina gripes at his side.   
Tim doesn’t waste time pulling up Fabian’s contact and dialling him. 

“Tim?” Fabian’s voice asks after a moment, frantic and scared.   
“Yeah. Both Nina and I are fine” Tim reports, falling back into old habits as the words spill emotionlessly from his lips.   
“Tim? You OK?” Amber asks in the background, sounding concerned.   
Tim smiles listlessly “Yeah. I’ll be alright, we’re just somewhere I don’t want to be” Tim says, handing the phone to Nina for her to explain.   
In the meantime, Tim evaluates their options. 

None of them are good.   
Their best option is to claim a portal spat them out here.   
But that would draw the league at worst and the Bats at least.   
However, they could also just falsify documents. There is a running trade for that in Gotham, after all. 

That seems like the best plan, Tim thinks finally, staring at the smog covered skyline of Gotham, no stars in sight. 

Xxxxxxx

Nina can’t help her apprehension, sitting down on a half-rotten mattress, talking on the phone with her friends halfway across the world. Still staring at her bare feet. 

Maybe, if she’d waited. Maybe, if she hadn’t jumped. Maybe, if she’d made the jump. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

“Nina” Fabian’s voice draws her out of her musings.   
“Nina is Tim OK?” Amber asks, which is still weird. Nina had almost had to die to gain Amber’s approval. But Amber almost sounded, concerned.   
“Tim…he’s physically unharmed” Nina says, glancing at the boy out of the corner of her eye. He’s leaning on the windowsill, apparently undisturbed by the derelict building they landed in. His eyes, however, are dull and vacant. Blank in a way Nina hadn’t seen since Tim had just started staying in Anubis house.   
“Nina, I need you to be honest with me. Does he look OK?” Amber asks, sounding like she’s shoving someone out of the way to get closer to the phone.   
Nina closes her eyes, dropping her head forward and says with guilty admission   
“No”

Xxxxxxx

Tim doesn’t sleep that night, restless energy merging with the passive paranoia that lingers in his mind, making him unable to sleep.   
Nina had fallen asleep shortly after the phone call, scrapping together a kind of cover for the matress out of their blazers and jerseys. That way, neither of them have to touch it, she’d explained, looking so happy to have something between her and the mattress that Tim had kept his observations about Gotham’s cold to himself. 

He still isn’t sure what to think. Wish he could say the same about what he feels.   
The betrayal.   
The guilt.   
The anger.   
The despair.   
It’s all just like the night he left. 

He’d seen the Bats, all gathered together in the dining hall, happy and laughing.   
He’d just escaped from Mr. Oz’s prison. They’d thought he was dead. They thought the drones had killed him. Vaporised him enough that there had only been blood left.   
But Tim hadn’t died.   
No. Tim had been kept prisoner by some guy, kept along with his future evil self.   
It had been quiet. Lonely. Sterile.   
It reminded him of Drake manor, honestly. Weeks with no human contact.   
He’d escaped anyway. 

But the Bats. The family. They didn’t seem to be in mourning. In fact, Jason had been there, Cass had been there. None of them were crying. None of them even seemed sad.   
Tim hadn’t stayed long after that, with thoughts of “They’re better off without me” “They don’t seem to miss me all that much” “Jason was there. They hate each other” and “Maybe, they just hated you”.   
He’d left before the family even realised that he might he alive. 

Now, standing on a balcony in the Bowery, Tim isn’t sure what to think. He can see the river, the Ferris wheels from Amusement Mile. He can see all of it.   
And he’s missed it.   
So much. 

But he can’t stay. He has a life now. He has Fabian to bandage the wounds he gets from their adventures. He has Nina to joke with at the table. He has Alfie to keep lighthearted. Amber to help with her beauty routine. Jerome needs someone to help him out of the dark.   
Trudy would be frantic if he just vanished. 

The thoughts calm his heart, remind him that he has people that care for him now. People that need him. And not just for their adventures and how he can help them. They care for him. 

Breathing easier, Tim grabs hold of a drainpipe next to the balcony, testing the give of the metal and checking that it will actually hold his weight.   
He’d need to get some gloves and clothing first thing. Probably from a washing line or something. The stark white shirt and pressed black pants won’t do him any favors here.

The Bowery hasn’t changed much since Tim left; he notices. The people are still grouchy and wary. The walls still covered in graffiti. The rats still abnormally large.   
Now, in his borrowed hoodie and slacks, he slips between the cracks, fades out of sight. Just another street kid. Nothing to see here. 

The old docs place is still open and still where he remembers it. The best place to falsify documents for people. Of course, it is under the Red Hood’s control but as long as Tim stays cool, he won’t get involved.   
Slipping inside, Tim can see the worker instinctually move to chase him off. Street children can’t pay the fee, after all.   
But isn’t it just Tim’s luck that the Red Hood himself intervenes, stepping between the worker and Tim with a stomp. 

“I’ll take this one” Hood’s growly, almost mechanical voice grinds out. Tim just ducks his head in what he hopes looks like fear.   
“Kid” Hood says a second later, sounding much gentler. “Kid” he repeats when Tim doesn’t raise his head.   
Hood sighs, leading to a garbled noise from the microphone in his hood as he sits down directly in Tim’s line of sight.   
“You here for docs?” Hood asks. And Tim recognises this tactic, practically invented it. Distract the victim from how scary you can be by reminding them of what they want to do. The goal. It works wonderfully on street kids.   
And that’s what Jason thinks he is. 

Tim tries to run.   
But he hasn’t been keeping up with his vigilante training. Hadn’t thought he’d ever need it again.   
Hood catches his around the waist, lifting him and ignoring the hits that Tim lands.   
Even when Tim was at the peak of is time, he couldn’t beat Jason easily. And once Jason has anyone in a bear hug….

Tim stops struggling, tries to guilt Jason into letting him go.   
“Please. I just need some passports. Please don’t hurt me”  
The wobble in his lips, the weakness in his voice, the changes to his natural voice. There’s no way Jason would recognise him. 

“Kid. Alright. It’s alright. I’ll take care of it, I promise. Just calm down, alright?” Jason asks, his voice gentle and calm.   
It almost breaks Tim. 

He starts to struggle anew as Jason starts walking backwards to the photo booth.   
“Please no. Please. Please let me go”   
Tim doesn’t even need to fake the desperation and fear in his voice now.   
If Jason sees him, if Jason recognises him, who knows what he’ll do. 

“Calm down, alright. Everything is going to be fine. Everything is going to be alright, I promise. Just calm down” Jason mumbles, resting his chin on Tim’s head and continuing to mumble little nothings.   
Tim can’t help but relax, even as his mind spins, trying to work out a way to get out. 

“Kid. You need to take a picture for the docs, OK? I just need one picture” Jason murmurs, taking the remote for the camera in hand.   
“Promise me. Promise me, you won’t tell anyone that I’m here. No-one” Tim says, voice falling into the air without his full knowledge or permission.   
“Promise kid” 

Jason’s rough drawl, full of sincerity, gives Tim the push he needs to shakily reach up, pulling the hood from his head at the last second.   
The camera flashes a second later.   
But Tim isn’t quick enough to pull his hood back up. 

“Tim?”

Xxxxxx

Tim should have stayed at home. Should have faced his fears and just gotten onto a boat that may or may not have been filled with illegal firearms.   
Anything but this. 

Tim had let his hood drop the second he’d heard his name spill from Jason’s lips. Had given up all pretence. He kicks and punches and screams, anything to get away from Hood. If he can just get away, then he can vanish again. He can run and find Nina and they can get on the first boat out of here.   
But Jason just tightens his grip, not releasing even when Tim kicks his chin hard enough to hear it crack. 

“Tim. Calm down. Please. I’ll help you. I promise. The whispers are wrong. Please just let me help you” Jason says, sounding wrecked.   
Whispers? What whispers?  
“What are you talking about?” Tim asks, slumping against Jason’s chest in defeat.   
“The pit whispers. Fuck, I should have known that Ra’s would get a hold of something to resurrect you” Jason explains, the voice laced with guilt and regret.   
“I wasn’t IN the lazarus pit!” Tim yells, starting to struggle anew.   
“Tim, I promise that I won’t judge. I was there too, remember. Please just let me help” Jason say and Oh, Jason doesn’t believe him. 

“There was no lazarus pit involved” Tim says quietly as his struggles die.   
“No?” Jason asks, sounding more willing to listen now, still a bit like he’s humouring Tim, but not outright telling Tim that he’s lying.   
“No. I…I didn’t even really die” Tim admits, forcing himself through the words.   
“Did you…Did you fake your death?” Jason asks, desperately trying to stay neutral but Tim can hear the edge of anger in his voice, can see the slight glow of green by his ear.   
“No. Nothing about it was fake. I just didn’t die” Tim admits, remembering cold rooms, sterile environments, the eyes of a madman as his only company. 

“Then what did happen?” Jason asks, slackening his grip slightly and physically turning Tim to face him.   
“I was taken. Kidnapped” Tim admits, eyes unfocusing as drab beige walls blur into grey walls of metal.  
“By who?”   
“His name was Mr. Oz. Some kind of Superhero wannabee” Tim says, not wanting to say that an evil version of Clark’s father had kidnapped him.  
“He saved you?”   
“No!” Tim yells, because Oz didn’t save Tim. Tim saved himself. Oz had captured and isolated Tim, tortured him psychologically.   
“Ok. Alright. Mr. Oz didn’t save you. But Tim, how long ago was that? Were you there the whole time?”   
“No, I escaped about half a year ago” Tim admits, voice small.   
“Then why didn’t you come back?”   
“Because you were all better off without me. I tried coming back one night. Found the whole family at the dinner table. You and Cass and everyone included. No-one was fighting. No yelling. Everything was perfect” Tim admits, the vulnerability of that night bleeding into his tone. 

“Tim” Jason starts, voice gravely like he’s about to start crying “That was the night after your funeral. Cass was back from Hong Kong for that. I was there to make sure everything was as you would want it to be. The dinner? That was our own little funeral, I guess. Saying goodbye” Jason explains and Tim looks into his eyes, seeing the sincerity, seeing the truth laid bare in his green overlaid eyes. 

Tim breaks down a second later, sobbing into Jason’s shoulder. 

A few miles away, Nina wakes up to a lit room, the locket around her neck glowing a bright red as it swirls around her. 

Then, both of them are gone. 

Xxxxxxx

One second, Tim is bawling his eyes out on Jason’s shoulder, snivelling and sobbing to his Brother. His brother.   
The next, there’s a tap to his shoulder from a hand much daintier than Jason’s would be.   
“Tim?” That’s Nina’s voice. But Nina’s back at the room. Tim isn’t at the room.   
“Tim are you alright?” Nina’s voice asks again before 2 arms draw him into a hug. 

Tim melts into the embrace, not able to stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks.   
When they eventually dry, he pulls away. 

“Where are we?”  
“We’re back at the tunnels” Nina admits, standing to let Tim see they were now on the other side of the cavern.   
“There’s a symbol here” Nina says, hesitant as she speaks. 

The symbol behind her? An illustration of the weighing of the heart.


End file.
